Brantford Mayor Chris Friel is livid that unresolved land claims and other native issues are now bedeviling the city's attempt to clean up the Greenwich-Mohawk brownfield site.
And the mayor is laying the blame at the feet of the Stephen Harper government.
"Enough is enough! Where is the federal government?" an exasperated Friel said Saturday in reaction to a march to the Greenwich-Mohawk site by elements of an organization calling itself the Mohawk Nation.
"I have this to say to the government. Get your majority asses out of Ottawa, get down here and solve our problems," he continued.
"Some bureaucrat must be watching this. Don't make us go up there. Do the right and honourable thing. Come down here and solve it."
Brant MP Phil McColeman took exception to Friel's remarks.
"Mayor Friel's comments are somewhat misdirected and I think they're uncalled for," he said.
"To blame the federal government solely is taking it a little over the top to say the least."
McColeman said the federal government is doing what it can do with Six Nations claims. The biggest obstacle, he pointed out, is determining which party at Six Nations the federal government and the province, which also has a role, should be dealing with.
"Our response to Six Nations all along has been to have them empower some party to negotiate."
McColeman said he has talked with Chief Bill Montour of the Six Nations elected band council, who has been to the Confederacy Longhouse to talk to them.
"I feel Mayor Friel's frustration, but all three parties -- the federal government, the province and Six Nations -- have to be at the table to get results."
The marchers on Saturday claim the Greenwich-Mohawk brownfield site is really Mohawk land – part of the Eagle's Nest Tract land claim – and they were insisting on taking a leading role in deciding how to remediate it, until the claim is resolved.
Friel said he and senior city officials have been consulting in earnest with the Six Nations elected band council and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy over Greenwich-Mohawk and other city interests.
But Ottawa's apparent lack of action in resolving the 28 Six Nations land claims is attracting other elements that threaten to delay needed action on a contaminated site that has long needed attention.
And to Friel's frustration, it's happening just as the city is getting its ducks in a row to attack the problem.
"We have demonstrated that we accept our responsibility on this site for the betterment of the neighbourhood and the city. We will do what we have to do, but the federal government is being no help."